Women's Issues, Peace, Creativity & Spirituality

Monthly Archives: February 2016

Women all over the world face inequality when it comes to pay. It’s not just in the United States.

It shouldn’t be that way. We make strides — for a while — but it never lasts.

Each of us needs to determine, in our own minds, what we are worth. Then we need to stand up and clearly declare our value as a Person, not just as a Woman.

Traditionally, women devalue themselves — we are taught to do so — but we are NOT worth less than men. We are not “weaker” then men, we are not less smart, we are not less capable.

Genitalia do not equal worth. The willingness to work, the intelligence to work, that is what matters in the work place. It should be all that matters. But, until we, as women, value ourselves, our employers will not.

Below is a TED talk that helps illuminate the problem.

TED Talk Published on Jul 22, 2015

Veronique sheds light on her efforts for the past 10 years to ensure equal pay for females in the workplace. As an advocate, a business-leader, a mother, and a wife, she shares how the threads of her efforts have been intertwined and effected by these elements in her life.

Like this:

In reality, in the United States, a lot of men say “I won’t ever hurt you”, but they will look benignly at bruises and fractured bones or black eyes, and feel that they haven’t done anything.

But they have. They have physically abused you. They have battered you.

And they will promise over and over again not to ever do it again. But they will. And each incident will be a little worse than the one before.

An abuser is trying to break your self-esteem, your self-confidence, YOU. He wants to control you and keep you in his power. When he says you can’t leave him , what he’s really saying is he can’t lose his power and control over you.

You need to contact your local shelter or the national help hotline. Get counseling. Make an escape plan, before you’re hurt so badly you don’t care anymore that you’re hurt. Leave, before he kills you.

There is legal help for you in every state. The laws and penalties for battering vary by state, but your local shelter will help you get through the process. They know what to do.

I’ve been a bit under the weather lately, fighting off a flu that hit my second-oldest grandson hard this last week.
When I am slightly feverish, I get some odd dreams sometimes — nothing that I can remember, but enough to make me unsettled when I wake.

This song, by one of my favorite artists, Stevie Nicks, speaks to me of those odd dreams, fever-dreams. The song is Moonlight (Vampire Dreams) from her 2011 Album In Your Dreams.
I hope you enjoy it.

John J. DeGioia, president of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., made a major commitment to address racial issues on campus. Last fall students staged a sit-in outside the president’s office demanding the university address its past ties to slavery, increase the number of Black faculty on campus, and begin an ongoing and discussion of racial issues confronting the university.

President DeGioia stated that the university would create a major in African American studies and create an academic department in the field or a larger interdisciplinary program in the discipline. He also said that the university would establish a new research center “focused on racial injustice and the persistent and enduring legacy of racism and segregation in the American experience.” He vowed to recruit an appropriate number of faculty members to support the research center and African American studies initiative and to hire a new senior executive…

Charlie created Solitary Man based on his letters and visits with people in solitary confinement. The show is set in 2014, a year after the largest prisoner hunger strike in history. Charlie says, “I want this show to gain an audience and become one more voice calling for the end of mass incarceration and solitary confinement.”

After the performance, we will discuss how and why the men in Pelican Bay SHU have been continuously deprived of sleep since Aug 2, 2015.

A tree is awash in autumn color as the moon rises over the White House on election night, November 08.
REUTERS

Black History Month

Repeal Stand your Ground

Help Save a Child

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

HANDS UP 4 JUSTICE APP

The Hands Up 4 Justice audio and video APP records encounters with law enforcement. This APP was created to video and audio record encounters with law enforcement for your safety. The best use of the APP once pulled over by the police, turn on the front facing camera and start recording..

Protests – Black Lives Matter

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

KEEP EYES ON THE POLICE. NATIONAL POLICE VIOLENCE MAPPING TOOL.

Tool designed to help you hold Elected Officials accountable for police violence.

Hank Johnson Justice Fund

NO JUSTICE, NO MONEY
In the wake of the killings of unarmed black men and boys and the outrageous failure to prosecute their killers, Hank Johnson is introducing the Grand Jury Reform Act. This bill will prohibit the use of a grand jury when determining whether to prosecute a police officer in the event of a death. The status quo isn’t working. The evidence is clear. The people are demanding a real response from their elected leaders.

I am a retired widow with 4 kids and 9 grands. I worked as a nurse, and in Domestic Violence, and many non-profits, I was a donor health counselor for the American Red Cross and am a certified HIV counselor. I worked as a counselor and I have been a make-up artist and selling specialists for several American designers. I love life. I am very spiritual. I grew up in 50's and 60's and truly am the idealistic rebel which is the name of my blog. I love music, books, reading, Kindle, beauty. I am a photographer and an artist. I believe in making the world better one day at a time. I am now living in Asheville, NC.